Many Australians are struggling to afford basic necessities, with one in five people having a transaction declined at the checkout in the past three months, data shows.
Cost-of-living pressures and rising inflation are having a devastating effect on Australian household budgets.
A national survey by consumer group Finder found that 19 per cent of respondents had a sale rejected at the counter due to insufficient funds in their bank account.
That is equivalent to roughly 3.8 million Australians.
Read: The surprise factor driving up your cost of living
The survey also revealed that 11 per cent have had to abandon purchases after coming up short, while 8 per cent have had to return items to the shelf to afford their shop.
Finder’s senior money editor Sarah Megginson says many Australians are struggling and facing economic hurdles they may not have faced before.
“So many people are scraping the bottom of the barrel right now,” she says.
“It’s really distressing to be in a position where you can’t afford your groceries or fuel.
“Australians are being left embarrassed at the checkout as increases to household bills means there’s just not much money left in the bank.”
Read: Seven tips to help Aussies feeling the sting of rising inflation
Stress related to grocery bills reached a peak in August, with 37 per cent of survey participants ranking groceries as one of their top three most stressful expenses. This is up from 28 per cent in March.
Before this year, the highest this figure ever reached was 24 per cent in June 2021.
According to food charity Foodbank, around one in three (35 per cent) Australians of all ages are currently experiencing food insecurity, or a lack of access to enough nutritious food to fuel a normal, active life.
Foodbank says ‘bill shock’ or an unexpectedly high expense was the leading reason (35 per cent) Australians said they couldn’t afford food. Low incomes (30 per cent), needing to prioritise rent/mortgage payments (30 per cent) and running out of savings (17 per cent) were the other main reasons given.
Read: How the psychology of inflation makes things worse
And the checkout pain doesn’t look like it will be ending any time soon. In fact, market analysts believe Australia’s supermarkets are on track for another year of record profits as a result of price increases.
For what it’s worth, supermarket giants Woolworths and Coles have acknowledged the pressure many shoppers are under and have committed to freezing prices where they can.
In June, Woolworths announced it would be freezing the price of almost 200 Woolies-branded staple items including flour, sugar, eggs, canned tomatoes, coffee and tea.
Not to be outdone, Coles has since frozen the price on a staggering 1168 items until at least January 2023.
How have you found your weekly shop recently? Are you still able to get what you need? Let us know in the comments section below.
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